Purim in Tel Aviv

Purim is a Jewish Holiday celebrating the events described in the Book of Esther. Basically, evil guy named Haman tried to convince the Persian King Ahasuerus (who in fact historically syncs up with King Xerxes who most people will know from the movie 300 as an impossibly large guy with an impossibly deep voice - anyway...) to kill the Jews. Esther, who had become queen by being the most beautiful in the Kings eyes then reveals herself to be Jewish and exposes Haman's evil plan. The holiday subscribes to the adage that follows most Jewish holidays and that is this: "They tried to kill us. We survived. Let's eat."

Purim is all about hiding ones identity - Esther hiding the fact that she is Jewish, Haman hiding the fact that he is evil, Ahasuerus hiding his secret obsession with gold jewelry, Mordecai (Esther's righteous cousin and adopted father)'s behind the scenes helping people like he's Batman... and so a central pillar in celebrating Purim is dressing up in masks. Jewish Halloween, essentially. Exhibit A - Chareidi guy talking to a crazy dressed person:

Picture worthy.

Theodor Herzl is largely considered the founding father of the idea of a modern Jewish state. He looked like this:

Those far-seeing eyes see a new state on the horizon.

Anyway, he's a very recognizable figure here. I happen to have been blessed with a natural talent for looking like him upon my arrival, so all it took was a couple of wardrobe changes to bring Herzl back to life.

"If you will it - it is no dream" - Thejoshdor, Herzl

A couple of Israelis commenting on my beard before Purim even began brought up Herzl's name so this was a no-brainer for the first "day" of Purim (Purim was actually Wednesday night-Thursday, but here it was celebrated Tuesday-Saturday!).

There was a massive zombie walk that started near King George Street, and there you could see just how much Purim is related to Halloween and how much Israel is connected culture-wise to the rest of the world, what with the zombie craze and all that going on. There were lots of zombie versions of pop-culture figures. I thought of going as Zombie Herzl, but in the end chose not to.

Your brains are in another castle.

Oh... I'm sorry. In my last post, did I make it seem as though I shaved off my entire beard in one day?? No no no nooooo. My bad. I made as much use out of the facial hair as possible throughout the week.

Jolly good! Eh, what?

Exactly like Halloween back home.

The spirit of Purim is evident everywhere. In malls, on the streets, on the beach.

Here Adrian brings the magic of costumery to the beach.

I should also note here that Purim is also a holiday known for merry making. It is, after all, a commandment to be so "merry" as to not know the difference between haman the evil and mordecai the righteous. Just food for thought while enjoying the following pictures.

Just a couple of circus freaks.

Risky Business.

Risky indeed.

I come from the distant past to investigate how humanity evolves in the futah!

 

To industry!

When I wear two hats I become doubly fancy.

Friday during the day there was a large street fair near the Tel Aviv museum of art. When I say large I mean it was completely packed. There was live music, and plenty of creative costumes. By this time I had devolved into the Pringles guy.

Once you pop... you know the rest.

Some guy dressed as a GIANT Smirnoff bottle.

I believe that Beast and the rest of these princesses converged on this spot independent of one another.

That a pretty excellent rendition of a pretty crappy Willy Wonka.

That Beast and Belle seriously went all out.

Stewardesses.

This Captain America was pretty miserable - probably because he misses his country..

Hello? Yes, this is King.

Once again, several individual geishas converged at the same spot.

If she doesn't scare ya, no evil thing will.

Lots of Purim observers.

Tales of Beardle the Beard Part II

Since my last post about growing a beard, I think it's probably fair to say that it got a little out of hand...

THIS IS BURGER RANCH!

When I arrived to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, I was asked a few extra questions at various points on my way to passport control from security. I was expecting this and understand why they pulled me aside to ask me about my reasons for visiting Israel and such, but in my case they were misidentifying me as a threat. I think I may have made a few of the security personnel feel bad when I told them that this was my sixth time in Israel and when they saw all the Israel stamps plus the Hebrew University student visa in my passport.

Back in civilization, and with people who were not familiar with the practice of contractors downrange growing a beard being an impulse as natural as the migratory patterns of birds - it was time to shave. As usual, I did it in stages.

Before

I've been spending most of my time in Israel with people on a Masa program called Career Israel. The living situation is sort of like an American dorm setting and so meeting people was often a whirlwind of names and faces. I had already gotten to meet a bunch of people on the program by the time I was going to shave - so no doubt I confused a bunch of people when my facial hair disappeared and I looked completely different.

Hey, I kinda look like Herzl...

Yes, by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin.

"It feels so weird!"

By Jove!

Ok... Maybe I didn't reach the supreme levels of beard-hood to which I once aspired personified in the late Admiral John Grimes Walker's face, but I think it was pretty respectable.

A little lopsided.

Now I look like I might be ready to open a barber shop of my own, in around 1880.

I'm in the market for a bicycle with a GIANT front wheel, and a teeny rear wheel.

Almost there.

Getting closer...

Hi we actually met earlier, but I'm Josh - yeah the guy with the big beard.

Extreme Sleep Deprivation Part II

So I may not have been tired on my way through Manas this time around, but I started off on the wrong foot to continue my journey in the same manner when I got to the Bishkek commercial airport at 5 AM having gotten no sleep whatsoever.

The whole day was a textbook description of experiencing reverse-culture shock. I was constantly barraged by the extreme cleanliness of the Istanbul airport and the restaurant attached to the hotel I stayed in in Germany. Did you know the Istanbul airport is full of nothing but women? It's true! Because I was used to there being practically no women downrange it really seemed like they were everywhere I looked (and this continues to be the case as I write this while I am currently visiting Israel). Anyway with a relatively long layover in Istanbul, and a shuttle from Frankfurt to Sandhofen, just north of Mannheim, I was very ready to pass out and did.

Being back in Sanhofen was also very strange, but in a way unrelated to the reverse-culture shock. Firstly, CTC is no longer storing people in the Weber, it's all about the Adler hotel, now. There are good things and bad related to the change, anyway it was only for one night. Also, being in the same place first in summer, and then again seven months later was interesting to see. 

After my out-processing in Coleman Barracks, which consisted basically of my filling out some forms and giving my opinions on how the program can be improved, I was on my way again back to the Frankfurt airport. Hearing Israeli's speaking Hebrew on their way back from a trip to Italy in the Rome airport (which coincidentally was also full of women) was like music to my ears.

Alitalia is very concerned over the people nearing their 40s who still play their original gameboys.

By the time I got to the little hotel near the beach in Tel Aviv that I was staying in it was 5 am again, and I had a hard time sleeping. By Saturday night, I had gone since Wednesday morning with nothing more than 10 hours of sleep total...

It's good to be back, civilization.

Transient

My experience from Kandahar to Manas was basically the same as my trip in, but in reverse, and without the extreme sleep deprivation. There were no all-night flights. I was able to appreciate the experience of flying in a C-17 because I wasn't nodding off, using my body armor as a headrest.

The Manas Nato base at the Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan airport, is meant as a staging area/transient base for people going somewhere or coming back from somewhere (mostly Afghanistan). Everyone not leaving within a few hours is assigned transient billeting, which is like what you imagine old-timey barracks to look like. Rows of bunk beds in a tent, and that's it.

I got to Manas Monday evening and was stuck here until I left for my commercial flight back to Germany very early Thursday morning with nothing to do in between those times except turn in my body armor which took about twenty minutes. So with all that time on my hands, I got to know the base fairly well. 

After getting everything scanned in, and getting some linens for my stay, and arranging for my travel to the Bishkek commercial airport on Thursday morning at 0430, I traipsed over to Pete's Place.

This is where residents of Manas are permitted to buy and consume two alcoholic drinks per day. As far as I've been told, most other bases where alcohol is permitted, but restricted offer two beers smaller than a regular 12-oz can/bottle. Here, they're serving big, European-style, .5 liter bottles. Also they were serving these beers at incredibly low prices  - nothing over $3 for a wide variety, including many fancy schmancy brands. Not having had the ability to drink for a very long time, my alcohol tolerance had diminished... noticeably.

Across the room at Pete's Place I noticed a man wearing a Yarmulke. I went up and asked him if he was with the chaplaincy, and he told me not yet but that he planned on it and on going to JTS for his rabbinical training. I'm sorry we didn't get to chat longer, I didn't even catch his name, but good luck to that guy.

Also on base, there is AAFES town. AAFES has set up a sort of courtyard of shops off to one end of the base. There's a bunch of souvenir shops, a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, and a Green Bean coffee place.

AAFES Town.

Apparently structures of this shape are central in Kyrgyz culture, and that's why this gift shop was shaped this way.

Most of Wednesday evening I spent wasting my energy trying and failing at getting some sleep before my shuttle to the commercial airport. Since that wasn't working I got to chit chatting with some of my tent-mates (who were also my plane-mates on my way out of Kandahar as we were all assigned to the same tent). One of the two soldiers I was talking to said that he was from Ohio. Where Ohio? Cleveland area. Where Cleveland? Do you know the Shaker Heights area? Ha! How crazy is that? A guy from the Shaker square area and I (also being from Shaker Heights) end up sleeping in beds 6 feet from one another on the complete opposite side of the world! We spent some time leading up to his (and everyone else in my tent besides my) departure recommending restaurants in the Cleveland area for each other to visit once we each get home.

For a brief moment at the Bishkek commercial airport just after 0500 on Thursday morning, it looked as though I wasn't going to get on the flight which would've been a disaster. Apparently, the interpreters had told me I had the proper stamps on my paperwork to travel through Kyrgyz customs, but in fact, I did not. After the interpreter with me rushed off to get me the right stamp, I made it through customs on time and I was on my way.

The End.

This song pretty accurately and awesomely sums up how I feel:

This, compared to how I felt when I first got here:

So long, Afghanistan...

 

It's been fun.